I always seek the good that is in people and leave the bad to Him who made mankind and knows how to round off the corners.

One should not wish anyone disagreeable conditions of life; but for him who is involved in them by chance, they are touchstones of characters and of the most decisive value to man.

Faust: Who holds the devil, let him hold him well, He hardly will be caught a second time.

Alas, that we should be so unwilling to listen to the still and holy yearnings of the heart! A god whispers quite softly in our breast, softly yet audibly; telling us what we ought to seek and what to shun.

What life half gives a man, posterity gives entirely.

The old lose one of the greatest privileges of man, for they are no longer judged by their contemporaries.

The finished man, you know, is difficult to please; a growing mind will ever show you gratitude. --Faust 1, lines 182-3